I actually didn't think too much of Sex/Vid when I first heard them but the impulse to listen again kept creeping in. I was bummed by their summer tour though; I'm pretty sure it was an off night but they weren't really that great.

Ha that's weird because certain bands you listed are just as over-hyped on the other end of the HC spectrum. They all depend on not being produced well and haphazardly writing songs... Except Social Circkle. That band can write tunes.

Very few hardcore bands entertain me anymore... As in new bands. But I think the influx of revivalism that came to a head the last few years really overkilled it. At least you didn't list ANS. That band is terrible.

Anyway, not enough HC bands write actual riffs or songs anymore. They just kinda throw shit together and come up with a gimmicky little package to put it in so maybe it will catch on.

Looks like we agree on something, Will. Those bands are just as over-hyped.

I disagree with your last statement though. I think either you're too wrapped up in what you think "real hardcore" is to realize bands like Have Heart actually write really, really good 'songs' - they may not have excessive d-beats or whatever, but in terms of songwriting that you're talking about, I think you're making a big mistake being so exclusive.

Hardcore can be well written and performed without being overpolished like I think most melodic hardcore is... Truth being the last record to come out in that style was Bane's "It All Comes Down to This."

PS - I don't get the "d beats" thing at all... The only d-beat bands I listen to broke up a long time ago, exception being Skitsystem. A lot of these bands that are big in the underground HC scene are half assed at best... The songwriting isn't there. It has energy, but it's not honed enough to mean anything besides conveying a caricature of 80's hardcore. There were some notable exceptions, but most of these broke up last year or the year before.

As for the kind of hardcore you like, it's the opposite... All sheen, zero energy. Nothing takes me out of a hardcore record like guitar harmonies and over production. As I said, the last record like that that I could get into was Bane's first (and no I didn't buy it until 3 years after it came out).

Alright, we agree again. I feel a lot of the "energetic" hardcore bands in the underground are pretty lacking in the song writing as well. As someone who doesn't come from a hardcore musical background, song writing alone can save the lack of energy and the "sheen" cause it doesn't phase my preconcieved expectations, but I understand where you're coming from.

Sorry about the bitter "d beat" thing.

Also, I keep bringing up Have Heart, but Songs to Scream at the Sun is like my favorite hardcore album now. It's really not polished production wise at all, it's really fast and gets slow and dynamic. I don't particularly care for overproduction either.

Annihilation Time and Doomriders I don't see as hardcore bands, just really good, rock-y punk bands. And I'm not sure if Direct Control are still around any more so that's why they weren't on there. I do know for a fact though that Punch in the Face are broken up.

Even the new LP? I always liked them before but the weird, noisy aspects on the new one take them to a new level. I missed them on tour this summer but everyone I've talked to about it said they were kind of a bummer.

Oddly enough, facebook pictures that our mutual friend Nick B took and put online awhile ago. I couldn't place why I recognized the tag, then remembered. I checked out the band, if you guys played up here I'd probably like it and buy the 7" if I had enough money.

I had the misfortune of seeing Chronic Seizure once. Holy shit they were bad. I have never heard a lead singer say such stupid things between songs. It was a bunch of "i'll fuck your mom" type banter. Then they gave us a break from his stupid shit by playing some super shitty noise. Definitely top three worst bands I've seen.

I raise your chronic Seizure by throwing down the bunch of racist fuckheads that are guttermouth. I realise they aren't hardcore and the name sort of implies it, but up until I saw them live I thought some of there stuff was ok, the bassist got really drunk and just decided to throw out every dumb racist comment you can imagine and the rest of the band joined in and goaded him on, fuckheads.

Oh, I suck with the internet, my bad, don't worry about it, it's just a shirt that says "i don't need sex, the government fucks me already" or something like that, something that I would never have expected my dad to send me.

So theres this real hot girl that comes into the shop I work at all the time and I added her on the networking site bebo. She has actually been replying to me and even sent me some "luv". I'm in love. What do I do next folks? Let her stew a while before I reply? ask her out or whaaaat?
love ben weasel x

I know I am going to get shit for this, but I think Trash Talk sucks, Blacklisted is sick and so is ceremony, but fuckin Trash Talk sucks, I saw them with Guns Up! and I swear I just wanted to shoot myself.